2015.04.14 EDA Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Planner Juba stated that the meeting with the St. Paul Port Authority was very helpful and gave City Staff many ideas on how to market the property. Adding in new meetings, like attending MNCAR, EDAM, and other events will be something new, but City Staff are willing to put time and attention into marketing and selling the property. The EDA came to the consensus that the city -owned property should be marketed and sold first through the efforts of City Staff and to re-evaluate if the St. Paul Port Authority should step in later. Commissioner Klein asked the EDA how they felt about the development criteria. Commissioner Denaway thought the criteria should be a little more inclusive of other options. He believed a good addition to the restaurant or entertainment piece would be a "destination anchor." He believed that it would be up to the developer coming with a proposal to explain why this project could be considered a destination. Some inclusions in this framing would be projects like a tap room, movie theater, or other destination projects. Commissioner Klein asked the EDA their thoughts on the flyer. The EDA all liked the flyer and agreed that it would give enough information for developers to make a phone call to the City to get more information on the property. Commissioner Denaway stated that he would like to see some expansion on what has already been approved or done to this property. This included approved variances, wetland delineations, and other environmental assessments to make the property more enticing for developers. Commissioner Klein asked the EDA how they felt about marketing the property for $1.00. The EDA agreed that marketing the city -owned property for $1.00 would get the word out about this piece of land and lead to some new ideas and projects for downtown Hugo. Klein made motion, Petty seconded, to recommend moving forward with the development criteria and begin marketing this property along with its paired development criteria. All Ayes. Motion carried. UPDATE ON THE FUTURE OF THE RAIL LINE City Administrator, Bryan Bear, started with a recap of the February 10, 2015 meeting. He reminded the EDA that they wanted to have the City be involved in the rail line topic by facilitating meetings and by talking with the businesses and railroad in an effort to help develop a strategy. The EDA agreed that the City needed to be involved and financially supportive of the businesses in keeping rail service. City Administrator Bear said that there has been a lot of work done with the rail line issue, including work with the businesses, railroad, the legislature, and other government programs. He